Founded 29 years ago, European private equity group Argos Soditic retains its strategy and rebrands to “Argos Wityu”, reflecting its vision of private equity.

Together with Argos, the historical name, “Wityu” is the synonym for “with you” and reflects the core values of partnership and transparency which are very important to the Argos team. It is the hallmark of a group which principally believes in the human aspects of private equity and sees the role primarily as collaboration and support for management, and not simply a financial matter. These are the values applied to the unique investment strategy developed by Argos, which favours growth and transformation of SME’s before leverage, and brings solutions to complex business and shareholding situations such as MBI’s and spin-offs, requiring significant consideration of the human side of things.

“Wityu” also underlines the international exposure of the group, with offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Luxembourg, Milan and Paris.

“Argos”, the real heart of the name of the group, with the reference to Greek mythology, re-iterates our desire to be open to opportunities and have a wide 360-degree approach to problems which we come across.

Karel Kroupa, Partner, Argos Wityu: “We operate in an industry where ownership and majority shareholding might give the impression of being sufficient to transform companies, they never are. The quality of the relationship with top management teams and broader employees, is an absolutely crucial success factor for us”.

Louis Godron, Partner, Argos Wityu: “With nearly 30 years of experience and very stable teams, it has to be acknowledged that at Argos Wityu we all share the vision that the success of our operations and the pleasure we have doing them are intrinsically linked to the dialogue and shared vision we develop with entrepreneurs who trust us and give us access to their companies.”

Since its creation, Argos Wityu has invested in more than 75 SME’s, across all sectors. Its teams have accompanied the development of iconic brands, such as the first MBO for the Eau Ecarlate brand of cleaning products (which has since become Spotless Group), Bip, an Italian global management / operational consulting specialized in business integration and innovation and Kägi, a Swiss wafer and biscuit brand. Argos Wityu is currently working amongst other things on the relaunches of Zodiac
Milpro, the global leader for military and professional rigid inflatable boats, of the Henri Selmer Paris manufacturing company, the world leader in the manufacture of high-end saxophones, and the privatisation of Lineas, the Belgian rail freight company.

With nearly one billion euros under management and a presence in six European countries, Argos Wityu concentrates on majority investments with Enterprise Values between €25 and 200 millionArgos Wityu specialises in transactions where value creation comes from company transformation, growth acceleration, innovation and the resolution of complex situations.

When the group was founded, it was accompanied by a minority shareholding of Maurice Dwek, founder of the Soditic bank. Without ever being operational, Mr Dwek remained very close to the team and its development for more than 20 years, up until his passing a few years ago. Marking the end of this chapter, Argos is now dropping the name Soditic and becomes “Argos Wityu”.